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PHW thinks Wenger will be here another decade – RVP – Fulham preview

this was supposed to be written this morning but you know how it goes, you wake up…snooze for another five minutes…wake up again…snooze for another five, then your alarm goes off just as you are comfortably in that dozy warm phase and in a moment of madness you punch your phone as hard as possible and it no longer makes any sound.

Of course…that didn’t happen to me this morning.

Anyway van Persie has been motoring his mouth overnight and is being pretty honest when it comes to making the most of fouls, admitting he and 99.9% of other strikers do it. This is something that will probably be spun in the press and he will get flack for admitting to it, my opinion is that he should be applauded for his honesty.

“It is not my intention to dive, I’m against divers because it is not honest.

“But I had a little moment against Manchester United the other week after the whole Eduardo thing. I had the ball on the right side, cut it back and Evra gave me a little push. It put me off balance.

“I fell down and the whole stadium started to boo me but I was like ‘come on, Evra pushed me!’.

“I do exaggerate. Sometimes, for example, when you are in the middle of the action, you get a little push and your opponent has finished the attacking action. Then, you are in the right to show the referee you were pushed. That is not diving. That is saying ‘come on, this is not honest play from the other players.’

“Sometimes you have a little movement with your arms or your body but I do not believe that is cheating. But it is difficult.”

In my mind it is the opposite of tactical fouling, buying a free-kick when there has been contact but not enough to make you hit the deck. Again, like diving, it is part of the game that will never be eradicated. Maybe it is not the most honest thing to do, making the most of a tackle, but its part and parcel of the game and players need to guard against it.

“Arsene thought long and hard about selling Adebayor. But there were pretty strong rumours last year that he wanted to go. Perhaps it was time to let him go. I don’t regret losing him, in fact I don’t regret any of the sales made by Arsene, he has pretty good judgement as it has been shown time and time again.

“He doesn’t always tell you, i.e. the press, or even me exactly why he is selling them, he might not always give me the reason, but we always back his judgement.”

He also talked about the future of Wenger – there will probably be some speculation that starts building up again as his contract runs out in 18 months but ever the professional, Arsene will not concentrate on his contract because there are more important things to sort out:

“Don’t ask me what we would do without Arsene. I don’t want to think about it. But I am hoping and, in fact, confident, we will not have to address that for some considerable time.

“He seems happy in his job here, it is very fulfilling for him, and I can see him doing it for another 10 years. But, of course that is up to him. He is showing no signs of slowing down, he’s perfectly fit, and he knows perfectly well my feelings about him.

”If I said, ‘Arsene, let’s talk about your contract as it runs out in 2011’, he would say ‘no need, I have other things to think about at the moment.’

Wenger always honours his contract so I think we can all be safe in the knowledge that he won’t just ditch the club, what I suspect he will do is take a good hard look at how the club is in the summer – the state of ownership etc and make a decision. PHW is confident his future is nowhere else though:

“We both know where we stand. I don’t want him to leave, but he is very mcuh his own man. I don’t think any amount of sweet talking from me will make any difference. He has a nice job here, he is well paid, no interference, he is allowed to get on with his job.

“He doesn’t have a President buying players for him and telling him to coach them and also to pick the team for him – he would tell us where to go, if we ever suggested that, not that we ever would.”

I couldn’t imagine an Arsenal without Wenger, it is one of the best stories in football and Wenger has revolutionised the English game along with Sir Alex Ferguson, who as annoying as he is, is a great manager

Last season at Craven Cottage

Time to concentrate on the game today at Craven Cottage, its the late kick-off so I guess that somehow saves my late blog to an extent. Its a very important game and at the start of a run of games we have to get the full three points out of if we are to pressure the teams at the top, it is an ample time to really build up some consistency and start a winning streak.

An early goal would settle any jangling nerves out there after last years disaster but I have full confidence we will get the win today, if we concede early things could get interesting. Sagna and Clichy need to continue improving their games today and support the Gallas/Vermaelen partnership in the middle, a strong defence is imperative with an inexperienced ‘keeper.

It will be interesting to see if Rosicky starts, I hope he does and lines up alongside Cesc and Song but in all probability it will be Diaby that plays there. Arshavin will start up front alongside van Persie and it gives the manager the option of playing one of Eduardo or Bendtner, Eduardo is our form striker at the moment so putting him on the bench may prove counter productive. I think he is the type of player we need on the pitch on those tricky away days to nick a goal or two as we know he can.

I’d better leave it there, enjoy the game wherever you are watching and if you have the pleasure of going to the match, take care.

More tomorrow

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Since Arsene has said before that he’ll stay at Arsenal as long as the club want him (and his health allows) and PHW has made it perfectly known (as if it wasn’t already)…I think it’s safe to say we’ll see at least one more multi-year contract for Le Boss at The Arsenal. 🙂